The effects of climate change on coastal communities along the United States Atlantic coast are becoming an increasing threat. The effectiveness and sustainability of traditional built protections that have been used to armor coasts against these threats has come into question as they require costly replacement and maintenance and are...
Literature-based review on designing an experimental project regarding placement and orientation of artificial nest boxes related to successful nest box adoption and chick survival in Barn owls within the Willamette Valley.
Skin condition assessment of wildlife can provide insight into individual and population health. Yet, logistics can limit skin condition assessment of large whales. We developed a standardized, quantitative protocol using photographs to assess skin condition of blue whales in New Zealand, and demonstrate the value gained by testing hypotheses, documenting...
A literature review for a research project being done in partnership with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, which will look at non-breeding California sea lion males in the Columbia River Basin that have been preying on migratory salmon. This will be...
The ability to observe species in their natural setting using remote cameras is an increasingly important tool for in-field research. Remote cameras for terrestrial studies are inexpensive and widely available, but there are few comparable options for researching aquatic habitats. For this study, a do it yourself (DIY) underwater camera...
A deep neural network was developed and trained to identify the sounds of pomacentrids (damselfishes) in the National Park of American Samoa. Four years of continuous, passive acoustic data were recorded by a single stationary hydrophone. Deep neural networks enable the full utilization of such large datasets by automating laborious...
Investigating the insectivorous diet of the Trowbridge’s shrew (Sorex trowbridgii) across forest types can illustrate how forest management affects biotic communities. I used DNA metabarcoding methods with ANML primers to identify stomach and intestines contents from shrews caught in pitfall traps in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest (HJA) and Willamette...
Coastal blue carbon ecosystems offer a variety of important ecosystem services, including exceptional rates of carbon sequestration and long-term carbon storage. Because these ecosystems disproportionately influence global carbon cycling, understanding their soil characteristics may help guide long-term climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Recently, Kauffman et al. (2020) observed the...
Juniper (Juniperus spp.) encroachment into the sagebrush steppe ecoregion is one of the main causes of sagebrush degradation and can alter the understory vegetative community by outcompeting native shrubs and grasses, which reduces the available forage and cover for small mammals. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are generalist, omnivorous predators in the...